“If the government wants a war, we will give it to them,” said the opposition leader.

At a recent talk at Florida International University, Venezuela opposition leader and National Assembly member Juan Requesens justified the use of violence in the opposition protests aimed at toppling the government of President Nicolas Maduro.

"To launch a rocket at a police officer on a motorcycle is certainly not legal, because those motorcycles have killed our comrades," said the leader of the party Primero Justicia during a conference at Florida's International University.

He told his audience that the unofficial referendum called by the opposition for July 16 would create the conditions for destabilizing the country and would include a question on whether people want Venezuela's Armed Forces to revolt against the government.

“The three questions will be directed at asking if people want the dictatorship to continue governing or not, if they want the constituent assembly or not and if they want the national armed forces to exercise (Articles) 350 and 333 against the government."

He said the opposition needs to prepare itself for a final showdown.

“We need to be prepared for a scenario where the government blocks communication. All of that can happen the day that we declare Zero Hour. We need to be prepared for a situation where our people can fall back and escape ... The strikes we are calling for 2, 4 or 6 hours are just rehearsals for what’s coming in Venezuela.”

According to Requesens, the opposition need to continue the violent protests promoted since early April to faciliate a foreign intervention in Venezuela.

“Someone asked me, Juan, what if you paralyze Venezuela and the government still holds its constituent assembly? I said if that happens there will be an almighty war." He replied, "You must have a Plan B … like an invasion. Well, the fact is, to get to an invasion we first have to go through this stage, don’t we?”

More than 95 people have been killed so far as a result of the violent opposition protests. Some 1,500 others have been injured. Requesens is no stranger to violence, as he also led the violent protests in 2014 that caused dozens of deaths.